1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a resin composite material, in particular, a structure of a resin.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Hitherto, an inorganic material such as clay and talc has been added to a resin in order to improve the properties of the resin.
For example, E. P. Giannelis et al. in Chem. Mater. 5, 1994-1996 (1993) disclose the technique for complexing polystyrene and clay.
In addition, JP-A 8-333114 discloses the techniques for introducing a polar group into a polymer to improve the dispersibility of clay.
The present inventors have been exploiting the techniques for distributing clay into a polymer and have completed an invention directed to control of a phase structure of a polymer.
The present invention is to providee a resin composite material which allows a polymer phase structure to be controlled.
The present invention is a resin composite material, which comprises a particle having the surface area of not less than 50 m2/g and at least two or more polymers or a copolymer comprising at least two or more segments,
wherein the polymers or the copolymer from a phase structure laminated on the surface of the particle and having an unit thickness of 1 nm to 1000 nm.
Two or more polymers or a copolymer comprising two or more segments (molecular concatemer) have originally such a tendency that heterogeneous polymers or segments separate and homogenous polymers or segments aggregate, and thus a plurality of phases 501 and 502 are randomly dispersed as shown in FIG. 1A. When a particle is introduced into such the polymers or the copolymer having the random phase structure 59, the phase 501 and the phase 502 are successively laminated on the surface of the particle 1 to form a phase structure 5 having the orienting properties as shown in FIG. 1B.
By introducing a particle into a mixture resin matrix of two or more polymers or a copolymer comprising two or more segments, the present invention allows a phase structure of multiple layers composed of the polymers or the copolymer to be controlled.
Although two kinds of phases 501 and 502 are exemplified in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, three or more phases may be used.
In the present invention, two or more polymers have such the tendency that homogenous polymers aggregate and cause a phase separation. A copolymer comprising two or more segments also has such the tendency that homogenous segments aggregate and cause a phase separation between heterogeneous segments.
As used herein, xe2x80x9cphase separationxe2x80x9d refers to the properties where homogenous polymers or homogenous segments of a copolymer aggregate mutually, and heterogeneous polymers or heterogeneous segments separate.
Two or more polymers or a copolymer causing a phase separation exert the self-organizing ability around a particle to form a phase structure with a particle as a core and having the orienting properties.
This phase structure having the orienting properties is a structure in which homogenous polymers or homogenous segments in a copolymer aggregate mutually to form phases successively laminated around a particle.
When a resin composite material of the present invention comprises a particle 1 and two kinds of polymers 21 and 22 (FIG. 2A), among polymers, the polymer 21 having the higher affinity with the particle 1 is first arranged on the surface of the particle 1 to form the first phase 51 (FIG. 2B). Subsequently, the polymer 22 having the lower affinity with the particle 1 is arranged on the surface of the first phase 51 to form the second phase 52. Subsequently, as necessary, the same polymer 21 as the polymer 21 which formed the first phase 51 is arranged on the surface of the second layer 52 to form the third phase 53. This is repeated to form a phase structure 5 in which polymers 21 and 22 are laminated on the surface of the particle 1 as shown in FIG. 2B.
When a resin composite material of the present invention comprises a particle 1 and a copolymer 3 comprising two kinds of segments 31 and 32 (FIG. 3A), among the segments, the segment 31 having the higher affinity with the particle 1 is arranged on the surface of the particle 1 to form the first phase 51 (FIG. 3B). Subsequently, other segments 32 arranged adjacent the segments 31 which formed the first phase 51 are mutually arranged to form the second phase 52.
And, phase structures each corresponding to the kind of a segment of a copolymer are repeated. For example, as shown in FIG. 3B, in the case of a copolymer 3 comprising two kinds of segments 31 and 32, two kinds of phases 501 and 502 are repeated. When a copolymer 3 comprises three kinds of segments 31, 32 and 33 as shown in FIG. 4, three kinds of phases 501, 502 and 503 are repeated.
A phase structure formed on the surface of a particle comprises only one phase in some cases, or two phases or three phases or more in some cases. How many layers of a phase structure are formed can be controlled by the number of kinds of polymers, the number of kinds of segments of a copolymer, the order of repetition of segments and the like. This can also be controlled by the molding conditions upon molding a resin composite material at the state of the high molecular mobility such as the molten state or the like.
The shape of a particle is mainly a factor which determines the orientation o f a phase structure. Size of a polymer or size of a segment of a copolymer is a main factor which determines an unit thickness of each phase in a phase structure.
Therefore, the phase structure can be controlled by selecting the shape of a particle, size of a polymer or size of a segment of a copolymer, or the like.